UAE | Government

ID applicants get year-long calendar

A year-long appointments' calendar for ID card applicants has been opened but expatriate professionals and Emiratis have to make the appointments in February and March [before their deadlines], a senior official told Gulf News.

  • By Binsal Abdul Kader Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:25 January 25, 2009
  • Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: A year-long appointments' calendar for ID card applicants has been opened but expatriate professionals and Emiratis have to make the appointments in February and March [before their deadlines], a senior official told Gulf News.

"Although we have opened the appointments for the whole year, until December 31, 2009 on our website (www.emiratesid.ae), expatriate professionals and Emiratis have to make the appointments by February 28 and March 31 respectively", said Thamer Rashid Al Qasimi, Planning Director and Project Management Director at Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA).

"All the categories of applicants have to make the appointments in accordance with the time frame announced by EIDA.

"Expatriate professionals and Emiratis are not an exception to this rule," he said.

The registration of the second category of expatriates will begin on March 1 and they will be given the preference for appointments thereafter, he added.

"Otherwise the purpose of the time frame for each category will be jeopardised," Al Qasimi said.

"The applicants can make an appointment for any date this year at 12 centres all over the country, whose 20 per cent of total registration capacity has been set aside on appointment system," he said, adding that the rest was for walk-in registrations.

Al Qasimi said more centres were in the pipeline to handle appointments.

"We will also increase the share of registrations on appointment system -by more than 50 per cent of total registration capacity", said the official.

A trial appointment system, scheduled to run for three months was opened on January 1, but was fully booked within a week, he said.

"It was just 20 per cent of total registration capacity (at 12 centres) until March 31 - about 140 registrations a day at each centre", he explained.

EIDA has total registration capacity of about 7,000 a day and it will increase with the opening of four new centres this year.

Two centres - Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah (behind the Police Headquarters) will be opened in February.


Your comments


I have got appointment in June, which was the first available appointment date. However, I undersand that expatriate professionals and Emiratis have to register for appointments in February and March [before their deadlines], How do we go about it?
Elisa
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 16:53

It is working fine. I just did it. It took a minute to get an appointment on the website and within a few seconds there was a confirmation through a text message. I also requested for a date in March.
Kamran Aziz
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 16:45

I got my ID yesterday from Ras Al khaimah. I was trying to get the appointment in Dubai but to no avail. Finally, I got in Ras Al Khaimah. The whole procedure took me six hours, including going from and coming back to Sharjah.
Syed
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 16:44

I completed the application form and submitted it at Emirates Post some two months ago. I have paid Dh40 for the form and still no appointment has been sent to me!
Rob
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 14:19

As Michele is saying that there is no time to waste and many are not getting a date for this issue to clear. My dear freind, do not waste your time only on the nearest centre from your home. Go a little farther from and you will find a centre that is providing appointments.
Anish Thomas
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 14:04

I strongly believe that EIDA has to provide more possible alternatives for appointments. It is really becoming impossible to get an appointment. We do not have time to waste for just an appointment. Why doesn?t EIDA plan to introduce online registering and submitting of forms.
Shahnawaz
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 13:53

This is fine, but the system is fully booked. The following message appears on screen: "There are no available appointments. Service Center is fully booked". Besides, how many expatriates are there yet to register in the next 30 days until 28 February? Does EIDA have the capacity to register all of them? And most importantly, can we have an official position on the consequences for someone who does not make it in time?
George
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 12:14

There have been no available times in Dubai for expatriates to get the appintement by end of February for a long time now. Calling EIDA does not help, since they advice me to go to Fujairah or Ras Al Khaimah.
Jarmo Salonen
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 11:12

Everyone have doubts about the preparation of the ID. It is my humble submission to EIDA to create an email so that the general public could get clear information.
Mathew V. George
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 11:00

I have just been on the site yet again, I have been going on it for more than five months now, and there are no appointments available anywhere according to the site. I have tried calling every week too. I do not see the point in a new website if there are no appointments to allocate the people on the site. What is going on? I refuse to go to a centre and wait for hours - I am a busy person and do not have any time to waste. I hope more appointments are available for us to book.
Michele B.
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 10:48

I have booked for an appointment but still have not got the date. In this busy schedule of work and study how do we go and stand an enitre day to get the appointment before February or March.
Ramya
Dubai,UAE
Posted: January 26, 2009, 10:48

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